


Bucket List

by MapleHere



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Adoptive Parents Sig and Izumi Curtis, Asexual Alphonse Elric, Asexual Male Character, Bisexual Edward, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Male Character, Bisexual Winry, Cigarette Smoking, Content Warning: Ableism, Ed and Al call Izumi Mom, Ed and Win smoke but will be stopping, Edward is a double amputee, F/M, Farrier Winry Rockbell, Military Veteran Edward Elric, Parental Izumi Curtis, Parental Sig Curtis, Past Edward Elric/Ling Yao - Freeform, Past Relationship(s), Swearing, Trans Alphonse Elric, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character, Trans Paninya, Trigger warning: ableism, let Alphonse Elric say fuck 2k21, slowburn, there will be cowboy antics, will update tags as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:35:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28448514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MapleHere/pseuds/MapleHere
Summary: "Ed―cough―what are―cough―you doing?" she managed, slightly startled.  She hurriedly waved the smoke away with her left hand and turned her head away to keep from blowing it directly into his face.  She pulled her hand back when she felt the paper of the cigarette slip slightly and turned to see him gently pulling it from her fingers."Mind if I try?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow as a grin split his lips."You al―cough―ways hated these."  She mirrored her friend's expression skeptically but allowed him to take it from her.He shrugged and took a drag before coughing lightly and looking out at the highway.  "I always hated a lot of things.  I guess almost dying will open you up to one or two of them."~~PROSHIPPERS DNI~~
Relationships: Alphonse Elric & Edward Elric & Van Hohenheim, Alphonse Elric & Winry Rockbell, Edward Elric & Ling Yao, Edward Elric & Winry Rockbell, Edward Elric/Winry Rockbell, Izumi Curtis & Alphonse Elric & Edward Elric, Izumi Curtis/Sig Curtis, Paninya/Winry Rockbell, Sig Curtis & Alphonse Elric & Edward Elric
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	1. Growing Pains

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the beginning of my favorite piece at the moment. I'm very excited!
> 
> Content warning: This piece will discuss themes of ableism, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and likely transphobia, as two of the characters closest to our protagonists are transgender. I will provide line breaks and trigger warnings prior to anything potentially triggering, but this is just a little heads up to let you know exactly what you'll be getting into.
> 
> In Chapter 1, we have ableism. As Winry does not work with/around amputees in this au, she is nowhere near as desensitized to disabilities as she is in canon. She is overprotective and means well, but she is using her voice to speak over the marginalized people she's trying to keep safe. This will be expanded on further in Chapter 2.

Winry chewed on her thumbnail as she leaned against the right front fender of her car and waited for the Elrics to emerge from the airport entrance. She hadn't been allowed past security, so Al had sent her to pull the car up to the pickup area and wait. She hadn't seen Ed in almost two years. Sure, they'd called every chance they could, but it wasn't the same, and now the poor guy was being permanently discharged. She let her hand fall to her side, wiping her thumb off on her leggings and drawing her lip between her teeth as she anxiously studied the faces of the strangers crossing the pickup area. She was parked in the handicapped spot, so she wouldn't have to move.

_Ed's gonna hate that._

She straightened slightly when she saw Al's tuft of blond above the other crowd members and waved a tad too enthusiastically to catch his attention. "Al!"

The mass of people thinned slightly, and Al's brown-gold eyes met her own with a relieved smile. "Winry!" Al maneuvered awkwardly, trying his best to politely ask people to make a path, but it was obvious that the exhausted travelers weren't listening.

Winry's brows furrowed, and she took a step up onto the curb just as a very loud, very _annoyed_ , "Hey, assholes! Part the waters, yeah?" disrupted the din of voices.

Her heart clenched slightly as the strangers did, in fact, make a path for the brothers, and she saw the extent of Ed's injuries for the first time as Alphonse pushed his wheelchair through. _Double amputation. What the hell did you expect him to look like?_ she asked herself silently. Ed wore nothing but a tank top and shorts and offered her a tired grin. "Ed..." His name came out little more than a whisper, and her face twisted with unexpressed grief

"Aw, c'mon, Win! What's with the―?"

Winry strode forward quickly and bent down to hug her friend as tightly as she could. "I'm so sorry, Ed..." she said softly. He reached up to pat her back firmly with his remaining hand, and she couldn't help the tears that pricked her eyes.

"What're _you_ sorry for? There was an accident. Wasn't your fault."

She pulled back and looked down at him, doing her best to take in his new appearance. His leg was gone, too. "Ed..." Her voice held water she knew he didn’t want to hear, but the longer she looked at him, the tighter her throat felt.

"Nope―don't do it, Win!" he said sternly. "I already went through this shit with Al, don't make me do it with you."

She wiped at her cheeks as the news sunk in fully. "I just―it's a _lot,_ Ed."

Ed waved his hand to blow off her concern and gripped the left wheel of his chair to turn toward the car. "Alright, alright, calm down. I didn't _die."_

She knew he was putting on a show. He _had_ to be. The first time she'd spoken to him after the accident, he'd sounded so _broken,_ so _scared._ He'd only joined the military to pay for school, and now...

"Let's just get home, okay? It was a long flight. You've got some pie waitin' for me, right?" he asked, flashing her a mischievous grin.

She allowed herself a small smile to match his own. He could be damaged in his own time, but for now, he wanted to be happy. She wouldn't be the one to take that from him. "You know it, nerd," she managed with a small sniffle as Al opened the back door to the car and took Ed's duffle bag from his lap. Ed stood from his chair and balanced tediously, holding onto the roof for a bit of stability, and jerked his head back slightly.

"Get your ass over here for a real hug, Win. Al got one at the gate."

Winry's eyes began to water once more as she stepped into his one-armed embrace and wrapped her arms around the base of his ribcage. _He’s so much smaller now._ "I'm really glad you're back, Ed..." she mumbled into his chest, "...but you promised me you'd come back in one piece."

Ed enveloped her shoulders to the best of his ability and buried his face in her hair. "I know, Win...I know...I'm sorry..."

They stayed that way for a few minutes until a car behind them in the pickup zone honked their horn impatiently, prompting Ed to let go and flip them off with the only middle finger he had left. Winry pulled away reluctantly, afraid that if she let go, he'd fall apart even further.

"Alright, you two, get in," Al called from the driver's seat. "Before _someone_ gets road rage."

Ed rolled his eyes and sat carefully in the rear passenger's seat. "Alright, alright, but I expect a blanket fort when we get home."

Winry laughed wetly and wiped her face with her sleeve as she closed his door. _He won't let this break him. Don't let it break you._ She climbed in the front seat next to Alphonse and pulled out her phone to put on Ed's favorite playlist. He deserved a warm welcome.

"So, what's been going on since I left?" Ed asked from the back seat, leaning forward as Winry fastened her seatbelt and Alphonse pulled forward into the mess of traffic that was pickup and dropoff.

"Well, Al got his Associate's and made the Dean's List," Winry said, nudging Al as someone honked at them once again.

Al retorted by gently smacking at Winry's left arm with his right hand. "Well, _Winry_ graduated from her trade school. She works as a farrier now―best farrier in the East," Al said, grinning back at his brother.

"Shut _up_ Al, I am not!"

Ed laughed lightly. "I'd believe it!" he declared, barely catching himself on the back of Al's seat as the younger Elric hit his brakes suddenly. "Shit―!"

"Put your seatbelt on, Ed!" Winry shouted, turning slightly in her seat to see him nearly forced into laying down in the seat as Al yanked the wheel into a right-hand turn.

"Well, maybe if Al was a better driver―!"

"Al's _always_ driven like this!" Winry emphasized her point by gripping the handle above her door.

"Bullshit! I'm the one who _taught_ him!"

"Exactly!" Al and Winry interrupted at the same time. There was a moment of quiet before all three broke into loud laughter, and Ed settled back into the middle seat and fastened the lap belt.

"Okay, but seriously," Ed finally said as the mirth died down, "what else have you guys been up to? Any new relationships I should know about?" He wiggled his brows as he leaned between the seats once again and looked between the two of them.

"Ew, no," Al said, his nose crinkling slightly despite his grin. "Girls have cooties, remember?"

Ed snorted and rolled his eyes and turned to the oldest of the three. "What about you, Win? Any hot romantic gossip to share?"

Winry flushed and shrugged, tucking her chin to her right shoulder and looking out her window as she sunk into her seat and mumbled an unintelligible, "Mmm'P'nya..."

"What?" Ed asked, a smirk splitting his lips as his brows knitted together. "Paninya? _You and Paninya?!"_ He thrust his arm through the gap and shook Al's shoulder. "Al, did you know about this?! Winry and _Paninya?!"_

"Ed, I'm driving!" Al cried, reaching over with his left hand to force the older brother's hand off his shoulder.

"Holy shit, Win! _Get it!"_ Ed gripped the back of her seat and shook it excitedly.

Winry pulled the front of her― _Paninya's_ ―track sweater up to cover the beet-red of her cheeks. "Stooooooop...!" she whined, sinking further into her seat.

"How can I?!" Ed demanded. "You're my _best friend!_ I'm your hype man! You hyped me up with Ling before we found out that we're both annoying as fuck!"

"Ed, come on, leave her alone," Al said, smiling in spite of himself. "Save it for when you see them together. They're ridiculous."

"No, we're not!" Winry insisted, sitting up suddenly. "We _barely_ even hold hands!"

Al snorted this time, rolling his eyes as he pulled into the lefthand turn lane that led onto the access road for Southeast Interstate 64. "Yeah, right. 'Barely hold hands,' _okay._ You should've seen them at Ling's birthday party. Paninya sat on her _lap."_

"Shutupshutupshut _up!"_ She reached over and shoved Al's shoulder, glad that the light was red.

"Winry! I am _driving!"_ Al reached for her hands this time and pushed them away. "Besides―I didn't even mention that she spent half the night _braiding your hair!"_

"Alphonse, I fucking _swear!"_

"Yes, you _fucking do!"_

Ed's near-constant laughter hitched, his eyes widening as his mouth hung open for a moment. "I―Al, did you just―?!"

 _"Oh, no, Alphonse said 'fuck!' It's the end of the world!"_ Alphonse mocked in a high-pitched voice as the light turned green, and he inched forward. "I say shit, piss, and ass, too."

Ed's eyes widened even further, and Winry couldn't help but snicker behind her hand. "You _are_ the one who taught him," she said with a shrug.

"I...I'm just caught off guard is all..." he admitted, blinking as his expression grew into a crooked smile. "I'm used to you scolding me for _my_ bad language," he chuckled.

"Yeah, well, a lot can change in five years," Al said with a shrug, and suddenly the atmosphere of the car grew a lot more somber as the words hung in the air.

"Yeah...a lot _can_ change in five years..." Ed repeated, leaning back in his seat.

Winry bit her lip softly and looked down at her phone resting in the smaller of the two cup holders. It wasn't a minute later that the screen lit up with a call from Paninya, displaying her photo and contact name, _Nini💜💜._

She unplugged the aux cord and answered it despite the tense silence that followed.

 _"Win! Hey! Did you guys get Ed from the airport yet?"_ she asked, a grin obvious in her voice.

"Y-yeah, yeah, we did. We're on our way back now."

_"So that puts you, what, like...three hours out?"_

"Something like that, yeah," she responded, looking out her window as the brothers seemed to stew.

 _"How is he? Ed. How's Ed?"_ Paninya's voice grew a tad more serious than Winry was used to.

"I don't know..." she admitted, leaning her head against the window.

_"Can I talk to him?"_

"Hey, Ed," Winry said softly, glancing over her shoulder. "Nini― _Paninya_ wants to talk to you."

Ed's face split into a tired smile as he raised an eyebrow. _"Nini?_ You have _nicknames?_ That's adorable as shit. Put her on speaker."

Winry turned in her seat and flipped him off, but did as he said. "Shut up, Elric."

_"Ed? Can you hear me?"_

Ed's eyes gained a bit of light at the familiar voice. "Hey, Paninya."

 _"Hey! How's it goin'?! What's it like being two limbs lighter?"_ she chirped, and Winry's heart stopped.

"Paninya!" Al and Winry exclaimed in tandem.

At the same time, there was a loud, “Holy _shit!”_ from the back seat.

_“The flight must have been nice, right? All that extra legroom!”_

“Paninya!” Winry repeated, her eyes widening.

Ed snorted, smacking the top of Winry’s headrest. _“Fuck!”_ he laughed. “You got any more of those?”

_“I sure do! They’ll cost you an arm and a leg, though.”_

“Paninya, stop!”

Ed waved her off, gasping amidst his mirth. “Holy fuck, Paninya,” he wheezed, “I haven’t laughed that hard in months.”

“Don’t encourage her, Ed!” Winry cried, her brows knitting together in concern. “She’s being rud―”

 _“Oh, come_ on, _Win~!”_ Paninya interrupted. _“You always laugh at my amputee jokes!”_

“I―”

“It’s fine, Win, really.” Ed reached forward from the back seat and set his hand on her shoulder.

“No, it isn’t! It’s not funny―for shit’s sake, Ed, you’re―”

“Laughing his ass off?” Al cut in, glancing over at her with a raised eyebrow.

“What―?”

Al shrugged as he took the next exit. “If he says it’s fine, then it’s fine, Winry.”

“Are you _serious?”_

 _“Oh, come on, Winry. You’re being kinda rude.”_ Paninya’s voice had taken on an air of concern, and Winry could almost _see_ her brows knitting together

 _“I’m_ being rude?!” she parroted as Al pulled into a gas station.

“Yeah, Win, you kind of are.” She turned to see Ed gripping the back of his neck awkwardly. “She’s just joking around.”

Winry paused, for the first time taking in the tension in the car. “I...I just don’t think it’s funny…” she finally said as Al parked next to a pump and shut off the car. “You shouldn’t joke about it.”

There was another tense, then broken by a curt, _“I’m not having this fight with you over the phone.”_

 _Fight?_ Her chest tightened with anxiety. “I…”

_“I’ll see you when you get here.”_

_Click._

An awkward silence rang through the vehicle until Al unfastened his seatbelt and got out. She stared blankly at her phone for a moment as the younger Elric started the process of paying for gas. She hit the lock button and dropped it into the door panel's pocket before opening the glove box. _Paninya never hangs up. I hang up. Always._ She dug through the contents there and slammed it shut before turning to tear apart the console.

"...You okay, Win?" Ed asked meekly from the back seat as her fingers wrapped around a nearly empty pack of cigarettes.

"She hung up," she responded as she pushed in the car's cigarette lighter and opened her door. Al had already started pumping the gas and left it to fill on its own as he hurried inside.

"I thought you stopped." The rear passenger's side door opened as Winry reached back to grab the lighter.

"I did," she lied. She climbed out and pulled a smoke from the not-so-long forgotten pack, slamming her door behind her and leaning against it. She took the cigarette between her lips and pressed the lighter to the end, taking a slow, deep inhale and letting her head fall back as she let heat circle and burn in her chest.

"Never become a politician," Ed sighed, and she looked over to see that he'd stood from his seat and was leaning against the rear fender.

"Ed― _cough―_ what are― _cough―_ you doing?" she managed, slightly startled. She hurriedly waved the smoke away with her left hand and turned her head away to keep from blowing it directly into his face. She pulled her hand back when she felt the paper of the cigarette slip slightly and turned to see him gently pulling it from her fingers.

"Mind if I try?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow as a grin split his lips.

"You al― _cough―_ ways hated these." She mirrored her friend's expression skeptically but allowed him to take it from her.

He shrugged and took a drag before coughing lightly and looking out at the highway. "I always hated a lot of things. I guess almost dying will open you up to one or two of them."

There was an odd silence as Ed handed the cigarette back, and Winry took another long pull. "So...what happened?"

Ed let out a bark of a laugh and rolled his eyes. "It was so _stupid,_ honestly." He took the cigarette again and held the smoke for a moment before sighing and closing his eyes. "Fuckin' dumbass...some dickhead went a little AWOL, I guess―I mean, not _really_ because he wasn't missing, but―" he took another pull from the cigarette and shook his head, "―doesn't matter. Guy thought it'd be fun to dick around with some C4, see what would happen. He _claims_ he thought the archive building was empty, but I was still in there―a few of us were."

Winry bit her lip softly and pulled out a second cigarette, resigning to give the first one to Ed. "That's...wow...that must have been terrifying..." She lit her cigarette and set the car lighter down on the roof of it before shoving her hands into her armpits to fight off the goosebumps threatening her. It was at this point that she realized once again that Ed was in only a tank top and shorts.

"I just thought it was an earthquake, at first." He sighed, opening his eyes. "I went to make sure everyone else was okay―to make sure Sheska and TJ were safe, but they'd already evacuated. There was another explosion, and then...I woke up and just... _wasn't_ in the military anymore."

Winry held in her smoke for a minute, squinting at him as the wind picked up and whipped her hair into her eyes. "Is he at least gonna get in trouble?"

"Oh, for _sure."_ Ed studied his cigarette and bent down to flick some of the ash from the end. "Dishonorable discharge, court-martialed for playing with explosives, probably some jail time for reckless endangerment, maybe an attempted murder charge―fuck, they could charge him with an act of terrorism if they wanted to." He pressed the cigarette to his lips and inhaled again, deep in thought.

"Well…" Winry looked down at the ember burning inches from her fingers, "...what about you?"

"What _about_ me?" he repeated, taking his seat in the car with his foot still on the asphalt. "They sent me off like some kind of hero. I didn't do shit." She opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by, “Anyway, enough sad shit. How was fair season?” He met her eyes with an attempt at a smile, but she knew he was still hurting.

 _He will be for a while._ She pursed her lips and took another drag from her smoke, sighing with a shrug. “Same shit, different year. I did a lot of shoeing for the barrel riders before the rodeo. Serina still runs her horses like shit―one of them threw _two_ shoes right before because she went to _Tringham.”_

“That guy’s still shoeing?”

Winry laughed. “I wouldn’t call what he did, ‘shoeing.’ More like ‘cheap torture.’” She took a pull and sighed. “Asshole put old shoes on the poor thing. Didn’t even resize them.”

 _“That_ bad?” Ed asked, doing his best to avoid blowing his smoke into the car; the wind made that impossible, though.

“Gets worse, too. Apparently, he didn’t disinfect like he should, so she was fighting scratches for months after that.”

“Damn…”

“Honestly, I’m surprised her horses haven’t broken a leg between the three of them,” she scoffed.

She looked over at Ed as he finished his cigarette with a small smile on his face and leaned down to smush the butt into the asphalt. “I’ve missed this...the small town gossip…”

_“Did you hear about Ed Elric?”_

_“No, I didn’t―what happened?”_

_“I heard it was a bomb blast! Knocked his legs clean off!”_

_“No, no, it was one of his arms! He was stuck under some rubble, saving someone!”_

Winry sighed softly took the final drag of her own cigarette before putting the ember out on the bottom of her left shoe. “Small town gossip has missed you, too,” she said with a shake of her head. “You’re all anyone’s wanted to talk about for months.”

Ed stood again and looked around for somewhere to toss his spent cigarette, holding it out to Winry and nodding to the plastic ashtray on the driver's side of the car. "Can't be any worse than when Mom died."

Winry took both butts around the car and stuffed them into the overflowing receptacle. "He's in town, by the way." She looked over her shoulder at him.

"Who?"

"Hohenheim."


	2. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ed, Al, and Winry make their way back to Dublith where a tearful reunion ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! I had a bunch of stuff I was gonna say here but I do not remember it, so uhh....enjoy!
> 
> Content Warning: this chapter doesn't really have much in the way of sensitive content, and there shouldn't be anything particularly rough, but it does start off with an argument, so beware!

Ed blinked. _Hohenheim._ “Are you shitting me?”

Winry opened her mouth briefly and looked toward the building.

“Hey, Ed, you still like that lemonade ginger ale, right?” Ed turned to see his brother approaching the car and waving a green bottle over his head, his left hand holding a bag of snacks at his side.

“Hohenheim is in Dublith?” he asked, tone accusatory.

Al raised an eyebrow as he lowered the soda, his stride slowing. “Y...yeeess?”

“And you didn’t fucking _tell me?”_ Ed questioned, raising one of his own brows as he balled his hand into a fist atop the car.

Al sighed and rolled his eyes, shoulders slumping with exasperation. “He’s our _dad,_ Ed. He wants to see you. Dad _misses_ you―”

 _“Bull-fucking-shit,”_ he seethed. “That asshole has no right. He hasn’t called me _once_ in _five years.”_

Al met his eyes, and Ed was surprised to find an unfamiliar defiance there. “Did _you_ ever call _him?”_ The words hung there for a moment as a gust of wind blew past them, reminding Ed that he was _not_ dressed for an argument in the cold. “Did you let him know that you _wanted_ him to call you?”

“Fuck no!” Ed erupted, taken aback by his own vehemence. “You think I wanna talk to that bastard?”

“Then what the hell _do_ you want, Ed?” His voice was harsh, almost resentful. “Dad’s not a fucking _mind-reader―_ he can’t see inside your head to parse through all your problems.”

_“Excuse me?”_

“Al…” Winry tried, and Ed looked over to see her worrying the ends of her sweater sleeves, brows knitted in concern.

“This isn’t _about_ you, Winry. Stay out of it.” Winry shrunk as Al’s tone grew overtly angry, and Ed bristled and glared at his brother.

“I just―I don’t think it’s necessarily _wrong_ for Ed―”

“No one _asked_ for your _opinion,_ Winry,” Al bit out.

Ed held up his hand, palm out as a way to redirect Al’s anger at himself. “Hey, you don’t have to be a dick, Al, she’s just trying to―”

“I don’t think you _get it,_ Ed,” Al interrupted, eyes narrowing as he reached the driver’s door and set the ginger ale down on the roof.

“Get what?” Ed set his hand on the roof again to keep himself balanced.

“Dad is _all we’ve got._ He’s the only blood we have left, and you seem to get off on shitting all over him!”

“We have each other.” Al’s expression cycled through several emotions, but they changed too quickly for Ed to really read any of them. “You have _me._ We don’t need him, remember?” Ed’s heart clenched as he recalled the first time he’d said those words, sat in front of their mother’s grave when they were far too young to bury her.

_“What are we gonna do, Ed?” Al whispered, voice small and broken. “Mom was all we had...what do we do now? Should we call Dad?”_

_“We have each other. You have me―we don’t need him.”_

“I _had_ you,” Al narrowed his eyes again, “and then you _left.”_

Silence hung between the three for a moment, and Al cleared his throat and looked down. “You left, and you almost _died,_ and no one from the military told me _anything_ about it...and then Dad called Izumi after you missed dinner for the third day in a row and told us you were hurt.”

Ed looked down this time, steaming, but resentfully grateful to his father for saving Alphonse the grief of not knowing.

“He called me by my name,” Al said quietly, almost silent. _“My_ name, Ed. He knew it before I even told him.”

Ed looked up at that, and he felt his hatred for the man who'd left them fade just a tad. "He...he did?" Al nodded, brown eyes meeting gold pleadingly.

"Please, Ed...just _try?"_

Ed studied his brother’s face carefully, taking in the way his expression seemed to grow increasingly desperate as the engine of a nearby truck shuddered to life. "For you," the older finally conceded. "But if he fucks up, don't think I won't use my only foot to kick his ass." Ed offered an empty smirk, and Al's entire frame seemed to relax.

"He hasn't so far," Al informed, laying the ginger ale on its side and rolling it across the roof of the car.

"Three strikes, Al. And he's lucky he's getting that much." Ed caught the bottle and looked over at Winry again, who seemed to have relaxed a tad.

"I don't think he'll need them," Al remarked, opening his door and dropping into the driver's seat. Winry's shoulders slumped further, and Ed could almost feel her let go of the breath she'd been holding. "Gas is paid for, by the way." Al shut the door as Winry snapped out of her tense posture and turned to see that the gas had stopped pumping.

"Al, you didn't have to―" She pulled the pump from the tank and returned it to its rightful place as Ed sat down. "I have money, Al."

"Then use it to buy yourself a new foundry," the youngest said with a shrug. "You said your crucible was about to crack. Replace it."

"That's _work_ stuff, Al―I have a credit card for that!"

Ed sandwiched his ginger ale between his thighs and watched the two as he opened it.

"Then pay off your credit card? I don't know―spend it on yourself." Ed could tell Al had rolled his eyes by the way he shrugged.

"But―!"

"Look, Dad wanted to pay for the whole trip, but you refused. At least let him pay the way back."

"He should be using that money for _you―_ I don't need it!"

"Wait, what?" Ed asked, brows furrowing slightly as he placed the lid to his drink on the seat next to him. "Dad― _Hohenheim_ ―should be using what money on you? Why should―?"

"Winry! That was a _secret!"_ Al shrieked suddenly, and Ed could tell from his profile that he'd gone bright red.

"Is something wrong, Al? What money―?"

_"He'spayingformytransition."_

A beat of silence.

Two.

Three.

"Oh…"

"Yeah."

Ed took in the way Al gripped the steering wheel, the tension that turned his knuckles almost white, and dropped his own gaze to his lap. _Ed_ was supposed to pay for that. "Well...maybe I can put up with him a little longer, then." He lifted the ginger ale to his lips and shared a glance with his brother in the rearview mirror. "At least he's not a _total_ asshole."

Alphonse visibly relaxed, the tiniest sigh of relief escaping him. “I told you, he’s not so bad.” Al looked to Winry, and though he couldn’t see either of their faces, it was obvious that the two were having some sort of silent exchange.

Winry closed Al’s door and rounded the car to take her own seat, and Al cranked up the heater. “Ready, boys?” Winry asked as she closed her door and grabbed for the bag of snacks Ed had forgotten about.

“Ready for what?”

Alphonse laughed dryly as she plugged the aux cord into her phone. “Are you serious, Winry?” Al looked to his right as he started the car.

“You lost the bet. Three hours of [ _kiwami_](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg3qsVzHeUt5_cPpcRtoaJQ) for you!”

“Wait, that guy who makes knives out of things that aren’t metal?” Ed leaned between the front seats as Al rolled his eyes and pulled out of the parking lot.

“I swear―you two are ridiculous, you know that?” Al questioned, turning onto the access road and speeding up to merge.

“He has a _crucible_ for his _microwave,_ Al. That’s badass!” Winry pulled up the YouTube channel and turned in her seat to look at Ed. “Which video should I start with?”

Ed met her eyes and couldn’t help the matching grin that split his lips as he looked down at the screen. “[The jello one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oadf4KNYz-I) is my favorite.”

“It’s gonna come out one day,” Al began as he looked over his shoulder and sped up to merge, “that that guy murdered someone.” He jerked the steering wheel to the left and crossed into the passing lane.

Ed snorted and rolled his eyes as Winry clicked on the video title. “Like he'd ever get caught."

"He's just showing people how to make bioplastic," Winry said matter-of-factly.

"He's providing a step-by-step tutorial on building a disappearing knife. He _shows_ you how to get rid of half of them."

“No,” Ed scooted himself into the middle seat again before fastening his seatbelt, “he’s showing us that they’re biodegradable. It’s science.”

“Yeah, okay.” Alphonse reached for the radio dial, only to have his hand smacked away by his oldest passenger. “Hey, if you guys are gonna geek out over bioplastic, I should _at least_ be able to listen to some music.”

“But that ruins the whole thing!” Ed objected.

“Yeah, the best part is that they’re _quiet.”_

Alphonse huffed, but Ed could see the smallest hint of a dimple in his right cheek. “You guys are the worst.”

“Love you too, brother,” Ed said fondly, squeezing Al’s shoulder. Al reached up and placed his left hand over Ed’s, and it occurred to the oldest for the nth time that day that maybe it had been a bad idea to leave in the first place.

~^~

"Are you _fucking_ kidding me?!"

"Al, hush, Ed is sleeping."

"Fucking―tell that to the asshole in the lifted truck!"

Everything jerked left, causing Ed to fall to his right as a loud, long, _HOOOOOOOOONK_ , accompanied by the screeching of tires pulled a groan from his lips.

"Alphonse! The light―"

"Yeah, yeah."

"If I get a ticket in the mail, I _swear_ I am _going_ to kill you!"

Ed pushed himself into a sitting position, brows knitting together as his brother gunned it through an intersection before immediately hitting the breaks and swerving around a corner and into an alley.

"Why the _fuck_ did I agree to let you drive my car?!" Winry cried, heavily distressed.

Ed grumbled a quiet, "Fuck if I know," as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and yawned.

"Sorry, Ed. I didn't mean to wake you," Al said, glancing over his right shoulder sheepishly.

"Where even are we?" Ed asked quietly as he placed his hand on the back of Al's seat for stability.

"We're almost home. We just got to Dublith."

Ed nodded at his brother's words and rested his head against Winry's headrest. His stumps _hurt._ It had been a long day of traveling, fighting with gate agents, and dealing with the uncomfortable stares of strangers and their snot-nosed brats. He was very, _very_ done with the day.

_There's still a party tonight._

He sighed slowly and sat back in his seat, letting his head fall back in his exhaustion. "Who all's gonna be there?" Ed opened his eyes and met Al's in the rearview mirror.

"Well...Mom and Sig, obviously...and...Dad―”

Ed groaned, his eyes closing. "Does he _have_ to be there?"

"Ed, you said you'd try," Al said sternly, but Ed could hear the hurt in his voice.

He sighed and rolled his eyes as he met the younger's gaze again. "Fine. Who else?"

"Paninya," Winry bristled, and Ed made a mental note to keep an eye on the two of them throughout the night, "and Ling and Lan Fan are supposed to be here, but their train was delayed due to a herd of cattle on the tracks."

Edward snorted at that. "Serves the asshole right for waiting until the last minute." The jab was in jest, but the disapproving look Al shot him made him wonder just how evident it was. "What about that little girlfriend of yours? Mei?" he asked, a lame attempt at changing the subject.

"She 'hates' you, remember?" Winry interjected, turning in her seat with a grin on her face. "Something about you _falling for the wrong sibling_ if I remember right?"

Ed rolled his eyes at that. Ling's little sister had developed a saccharine-sweet crush on him when she was in middle school based on the _very biased_ accounts from a lovesick Ling. Of _course,_ she'd been disappointed by the genuine article. "She stayed in Central, then?"

"She couldn’t make it." Al slowed to a stop before turning onto an asphalt road mere blocks from their childhood home. "She _did_ want us to remind you how much she hates you, though. Before she 'sees pictures of you and gets too soft to say anything.' Her words."

"How old is she now?" Ed unbuckled his seatbelt and scooted into the rear passenger's seat, looking out the window at the condemned apartment building he and Al had snuck into as kids. It had decayed significantly since their younger years, but it still looked like an explorer's dream come true.

"I think she just turned twenty?" Al offered as he neared the street Ed knew like the back of his hand. "Ling said something about a birthday party he was, quote, _'regretfully required to attend,'_ so I'm guessing it was hers."

"I see they haven't lost their taste for the dramatic," Ed grumbled, rolling his eyes despite the smile on his face.

"The real question is: have _you?"_ Winry teased, her eyebrows wiggling furiously.

He snorted. "Don't you think my life has been dramatic enough lately?"

The car fell silent until Alphonse pulled up to the best butcher shop in Dublith. "Mom's been―"

Ed jumped as the front door slammed open to reveal a grinning, misty-eyed Izumi. "Sig, dear―the boys are home!"

Ed's heart swelled at the announcement, at the sound of his mom's voice, at the _warmth_ of the word _home._ He sat motionless for a moment as Al shut off the engine, and suddenly it was all too much. He practically scrambled from the vehicle, eyes teary and throat closed. It wasn't a second after he got the door open that he was being scooped into Izumi's arms and crushed with the fierce affection he'd grown to love.

 _"Mom,"_ he choked out, wrapping his own arm around her and pressing his face into her neck.

"Oh, my precious boy…" she breathed, the fingers of her right hand carding through his slightly shaggy hair. "What have they gone and done to you?"

"They're gone, Mom…" he squeaked, fisting his only remaining hand in the back of her shirt. "My arm...my _leg…"_

"I know," she cooed, rocking him back and forth despite the fact that he was taller than her now. "But you're here...you're _home."_

The two stood that way for several minutes as Ed fought sobs he thought he’d run out of by now. It wasn’t until Winry closed the trunk of the old Buick that he pulled away and released his death grip to wipe away the few tears that had slipped free. “S-sorry―I thought I was all cried out by now,” he managed with a weak laugh, lifting the collar of his tank top to dry his face.

Izumi fixed him with a peculiar expression, her brows furrowed and lips pressed into a thin line. “You don’t need to apologize for mourning your mobility, Ed.”

Ed smiled tiredly at his mother and swallowed the lump in his throat with a nod. “I know, I know...but I just want to be happy right now.” He cupped Izumi’s face and pressed a firm kiss to her forehead. “I missed you, Mom. Every day.” He pulled back, and the dull ache in his chest eased slightly when Izumi offered a half-hearted smirk.

“Is that so?” she asked, looping an arm under his shoulder blades as Alphonse approached with his wheelchair. “You know, you _can_ call your mother every once in a while.”

Ed chuckled weakly and indulged in the feeling of Izumi’s fingernails brushing back his hair once again. It was something she’d done since he was small, since the first night he’d crawled into her and Sig’s bed sobbing about being unwanted, about how his father had given him up before even really knowing him, about, _How can ‘work’ be more important than us? He doesn’t even_ write _us! He missed our birthdays!_ He hadn’t known until years later that she’d had to stop Sig from hunting Hohenheim down for weeks after that.

He took a shuddering breath as Izumi took control of the chair and pushed him up to the door, immediately missing the contact. “Is...is he here?"

Izumi took a breath of her own as they approached the newly-installed ramp leading up to the porch. “He is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Comments are always appreciated! I would like to thank my lovely friends, Liam (idiotwerewolf), Al, Jo (Johnnyghoul), Fran (one_starry_knight), Momo (moth4moth), Sarah (elricsyao), Noah (lbk_princen) and so many more for helping me with the development of this fic! You can find them here on AO3 at those usernames, and you can find me on tumblr at maples-pages or rizathehawkseyehawkeye!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Comments are always appreciated! I would like to thank my lovely friends, Liam (idiotwerewolf), Al, Jo (Johnnyghoul), and so many more for helping me with the development of this fic! You can find them here on AO3 at those usernames, and you can find me on tumblr at maples-pages or rizathehawkseyehawkeye!
> 
> Thank you!


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